Indonesian jailbreak as 200 prisoners tear down gate after being allowed out of cells to pray

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Plain clothes police recapture escaped inmates from the jail, but the majority are still on the runCredit:
WAHYUDI/AFP

About 200 prisoners in Indonesia broke out of an overcrowded jail on Sumatra island on Friday, tearing down a gate near a mosque in the prison complex after being allowed out of their cells to pray, officials said.

Inmates had complained about their treatment in the jail in Pekanbaru, Riau province, and accused some guards of being violent, said Ferdinand Siagian, head of the regional office of the Law Ministry.

Guntur Aryo Tejo, a Riau police spokesman, said 77 inmates had been recaptured of the approximately 200 who had escaped. Television footage showed a police officer in black riot gear holding one man in a headlock.